Conductor s trip-book



(N0 Model.)

A. R. GUSTAPSON.

OONDUOTORS TRIP BOOK.

No. 366,579. Patented July 12, 1887 B Q a: NTW. Knnmg y.

L aKe Gen eva Division DIREUTIDNS.

N. PETERS, Plwlo-Lilhogrzlphur, Washington. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT Orricjt AXEL R. GUSTAFSON, OF M ARINETTE, WISCONSIN.

CONDUCTORS TRIP-BOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 366,579, dated July 12, 1887. Application filed March 10,1887. Serial No. 230,402. (N0 mode -i To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Axnr. R. GUSTAFSON, of Marinette, in the county of Marinette, and in the State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Conductors Trip-Books; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to devices for recording cash fares paid on railroad-trains, and will be fully described hereinafter.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of my improved device, which 1 term a conductors trip-book, with one leafremoved therefrom. Fig. 2 is a view of the leaf re moved.

My device consists, primarily, of a cover, A A, preferably of flexible paper or other material, so asto enable the top cover, A, to be bent back, as in Fig. 1, without breaking, and to the cover are stitched or otherwise permanently secured the leaves B, the upperends, B, of which are separated from the main portions thereofby transverse perforations or indentations I), while the aforesaid stitching is through the upper portion or stub-end, B, so that the lowerportion, containing the printed matter, can be detached from the stub and appear as shown in Fig. 2.

O is a heavy card, (preferably of different color from the leaves 8,) which is removably attached above the leaves B by means of fast ening devices D, passing through holes a a in said card, and similar holes registering therewith in the stubs B of the leaves B and the bottom cover, A. Instead of being flexible, the top cover, A, may be made with a cloth hinge, so as to enable it (in either case) to bend back, as shown in Fig. 1, when the card 0 is to be put in place or removed, or when the device is to be used.

Various devices have been constructed for the recording or registering of cash fares on a railroad-train, consisting of duplicate or triplicate tickets or receipts, auditors coupons, redeemable slips, and the like; but my device differs materially from all such, in that the card 0 described is intended to be used for the entire trip, and each time a cash fare is paid this card, with the leaf B immediately below it, is punched at the proper places, and

the leaf Bjust punched handed to the passenger; and when the next cash fare is paidthe same card 0 and the leaf B then next to it are punched together, and so on, so that at the end of the trip the conductor will have buta single trip-card in his possession, which he surrenders to the agent at the end of the line and accounts for his cash accordingly, and the separate leaves B are gathered up in any preferred manner and sent to the auditor or agent for subsequent comparison; and as these leaves B may be handed by the passengers themselves to a collector other than the conductor, a much more efficient safeguard against accident, collusion, or fraud may be obtained than with the ordinary duplicate receipt or coupon sys tem now in vogue on some roads.

By examining the detached leaf B, Fig. 2, it will be noticed that it indicates a trip of seven stations. The first column on the left shows the distance in miles from the first station to each of the other stations, successively. The next two columns show the rates of fare from the first station to each of the remaining stations, successively. Then comes the column of stations, and next a'series of columns, as many as are deemed necessary for the probable number of cash passengers on any one trip. These columns contain in horizontal lines figures representing in eachspace the number of miles between each two adjacent stations, alternated with horizontal rows similarly spaced for punching, (but with ciphers instead of figures,) and, next, two vertical columns, one with the amount of a single cash fare between the two nearest stations and the other repeating the distance in miles between said two stations, and to render this more readily understood the tariff is fixed at three cents per mile in the illustration given. It is necessary that the leaves B be all exactly alike, and that this described table of columns be duplicated on the card 0, so that the card and the leaf under it at any time may be simply held together, while both are punched at one operation.

In the illustration given a passenger is supposed to have paid his fare on the train at the second station (Desplaines) to the .third station, (Crystal Lake,) a distance of twenty-six miles, for which the tariff is fixed at seventyeight cents.

The conductor has punched the card and leaf in the first division to the left of the particular symbol Fr, which, from its location, means From Desplaines, and also punched the card and leaf in the first division to the right of the particular symbol To, which, from its location, means To Crystal Lake. Theleafthus punched, Fig. 2, is then torn out and handed to the passenger, and the trip-book is ready for the next cash fare, which is to be punched out from the first unpunehed division on the card 0 to the left of the appropriately located Fr-' and the first unpunched-division on said card to the right of the appropriately located 9T0. -Forinstance, if the next cash passenger gets on at McHenry and goes to Genoa Junction, the trip-card O (and the-passengerleaf B) will be punched in'the first division left of the Fr below the line of 8s, and in the first of the succeeding line of 9s, and of the line of 2s to the right of the appropriate Tos, showingthat the passenger has paid twenty-seven plus six, or thirty-three, cents for the nine plus two, or eleven, miles he has traveled, and when all the leaves B are collected the perforations in them must correspond with all the perforations in the trip-card O.

Before handing the detached leaf B to the passenger who has just paid, the conductor numbers it, (or the whole book may be first numbered, if preferred,) and signs and dates it and adds the number of the train, and thus a perfect system is obtained, free from liability to error, if the conductor does his duty, or detecting any oversight or omission on his part. r Y

One of these books is designed to outlast an indefinite number of trip-cards, as a fresh trip-card is secured in place above the remaining leaves at the beginning of every trip covering the stations named thereon, so long as any reasonable number of leaves remain unused. Of course for a return-trip a returntrip book would preferably be used and a different trip-book for every trip that a con ductor'would take, though the same trip-book press trains as well as for accommodation trains.

This invention may be applied equally well to half-fare books.

' Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A conductors trip-book for recording cash fares, consisting of a removable trip-card and a series of detachable leaves bound together, and all printed alike and adapted for the registry of cash fares by punching at the appropriate places, whereby a single trip-card may be. used to record and register with all the separate cash fares recorded on the sepa-' rate detached receipts therefor, substantially as set forth.

2. A, conductors trip-bool for recording cash fares, consisting of a series of fac-simile detachable leaves permanently bound together at the top, and a removable facsimile tripcard detachably secured above and to the stub of the detachable leaves, so that the printed matter on all the leaves and the card shall register, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I laim theforegoing I have hereunto set'my hand at Mari nette, in the "county of Marinette and State of Wisconsin,

in the presence of two witnesses.

AXEL R. GUSTAFSON.

(with fresh trip-cards) would answer for ex- 

